System Mechanic is a long established software utility, now in its 8th major version.

It can operate in the background, which is how most users are likely to operate, or you can decide to take more control over how the software operates. The choice is yours although we found the standard settings to be very good and it is unlikely that you will need to change them.

The initial scan we ran showed 6 areas that had not otherwise been picked up on the test computer and offered various options to fix each of these issues.

The problems encountered included fixing errors in the Windows registry, deleting temporary files (which would slow down hard disk speed), items in the start-up menu that did not need to be there (these would slow down Windows every time it started), relatively low free memory available (usually caused by other programs “leaking” memory as well as non-consecutive blocks of memory being used by programs). The program also diagnosed that our internet connection speed was being hampered by the wrong settings.

System Mechanic does much more than just clean your Windows registry.

The unnecessary start-up programs that it found would slow down our test computer every time it booted up. The software includes a description of the programs it is suggesting that you remove, so you can make a decision as to whether or not you want to keep the programs running.

Additionally, System Mechanic analyzes your system for security vulnerabilities. You likely already have Microsoft’s patches and updates turned on – this goes further than those updates. Again, meaningful descriptions are given of the security issues that the software finds.

System Mechanic goes much further than simply cleaning your Windows registry. For those people who like to get "under the hood" rather than accept the default options provided by other programs, this is an excellent choice.

Iolo Technologies were formed in 1998 to produce computer software utilities. Their products have received awards from Computer Shopper, ZDNet, CNET, PC World, PC Magazine and others.

The software works with all recent versions of Windows, including XP and most versions of Vista, but excluding the 64-bit version.